


Circumstantial Evidence

by Upstarsfromreality



Category: Sherlock (TV)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-08
Updated: 2019-02-08
Packaged: 2019-10-24 05:54:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 707
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17698889
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Upstarsfromreality/pseuds/Upstarsfromreality
Summary: "Circumstantial Evidence is a very tricky thing...It may seem to point very straight to one thing, but if you shift your own point of view a little, you may find it pointing in a very uncompromising manner to something entirely different."Arthur Conan Doyle, The Boscombe Valley Mystery.





	Circumstantial Evidence

**Author's Note:**

> "Circumstantial Evidence is a very tricky thing...It may seem to point very straight to one thing, but if you shift your own point of view a little, you may find it pointing in a very uncompromising manner to something entirely different."
> 
> Arthur Conan Doyle, The Boscombe Valley Mystery.

Sergeant Sally Donovan sat down for the requested follow-up interview regarding the kidnapping of Claudette and Max Bruhl. The witness was their teenaged sister, Cecelia Bruhl, accompanied by her mother, Catherine. Donovan put on her professional but reassuring persona and got started. “Good morning Ms. Bruhl, Cecelia. Cecelia, I understand you requested this interview?”

“Um, yeah. My mum doesn't think it's that significant, and I know the man you suspect is dead, but you gave her your card and asked her to come in if anything came up. So we came.” said Cecelia.

“You mentioned the man we suspect. Does that mean you suspect someone else?” Donovan didn't mean to be confrontational, she just knew it was sometimes easier to say what made a happening stick out than what actually happened. This proved to be the case with Cecelia.

“Not exactly, I just think there might be someone else, but I don't know who. I brought my band uniform back from school with me for our short break, because it needed to be dry cleaned. Claudette and Max had never seen me in it, because all my concerts are at Eton and they're stuck at their own school during term. Max begged me to put it on for them, and I did.” Cecelia swallowed lightly.

“Please take your time,” said Donovan. She could see that the hard part was coming.

“Cecelia swallowed again and went on. “The instant she saw -well I thought it was because she saw - me in it, Claudette went crazy. She could not stop screaming. She's never done that since the kidnapping while I've been home and Mum said she didn't do it before, either.”

“Not during the daytime,” confirmed Catherine. “They've both had nightmares, and Max screams in the day sometimes, but not Claudette. Not since you showed her that man, and made her scream.” She glared at Donovan.

Donovan was willing take the hit for that one. “Madam, you have Scotland Yard's deepest apologies, and my own deepest apologies for that. I recognize how devastating it must have been for both of you.” She turned back to Cecelia. “What did you mean when you said you thought it was because she saw you on the uniform.”

“She told us afterwards it was the smell. As soon as we got her calmed down, she told us that my uniform smelled scary,” said Cecelia.

“Smelled scary? What did it smell like?” asked Donovan?

“Nothing,” said Cecelia. “Nothing but my sweat - which she's smelled a hundred times before - and wool.”

“So you think the wool smell is what scared her?” suggested Donovan. “That seems possible. The techs found fibers from a wool blanket on Claudette and Max. We think they were wrapped in it after being taken.”

“Yeah, and my parents are vegans. I don't think there's ever been any wool in the house, other than my uniform, which school required to be in the band.”

Catherine broke in here. “That doesn't make it mean what you think it means, Cecelia. That man did it, and now he's dead. I said I'd take you here, but that doesn't mean you can throw accusations around.”

“I don't think your daughter has accused anyone of anything, Ms. Bruhl. She specifically said she doesn't know who she suspects. Cecelia, what do you think it means?”

“I was looking at some pictures of that man, from before when he was famous. He was always wearing a long coat. It looked like wool,” said Cecelia.

“I'm pretty sure it was,” said Donovan, quietly, “and he was already in the room for a minute, before he spoke. She didn't look up until then, but he also stepped closer, maybe close enough to smell.”

“Yeah, I'm not sure Claudette recognized him at all. That might mean whoever did this is still out there,” finished Cecelia.

Donovan looked Cecelia firmly in the eye. “I promise you will find out. If it wasn't Holmes, I've let you and your sister and brother down. I won't let you down again.”

The two women left the the conference room. Donovan returned to her desk and started pulling reports. She wasn't going to let a little rivalry with Holmes ruin her chance to put things right.


End file.
